


No Need for "Farewell"

by tieria



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS
Genre: Cyberse World, Dorks in Love, Ferris Wheels, Fluff, M/M, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-08
Updated: 2018-08-08
Packaged: 2019-06-10 12:15:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,289
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15291327
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tieria/pseuds/tieria
Summary: After the end of everything, the world and all its heroes take a breath. For some of them, that means a bit of distance- and while they're not going to protest that, certainly- it doesn't mean they want to be apart.





	No Need for "Farewell"

**Author's Note:**

> UM WHO ALLOWED THESE TWO TO BE SO CUTE AND SUPPORTIVE AND GOOD???  
> Also I know the Ignises can be like... people-sized but that concept intimidates me so Flame is. Small. for the duration of this fic (lol) Let's just say he got used to being that size over the course of the show

Flame clears his throat. And then does it again. And fidgets, then does it again, and _come on, Flame._

It’s the first time they’ve met in a little while- Flame is off busy rebuilding the Cyberse with the other Ignises, and Takeru is enjoying the time to finally sit back and relax now that everything is done and settled. He’s not going to have his first conversation with Flame in weeks be a bunch of running around the point the second he wakes up.

“Flame? What’s going on?”

“This is a great honor!” Flame says, posturing on the duel disk at Takeru’s bedside as if he has to justify himself for something he’s not yet said, “I fought the fool for this opportunity. He was very adamant that Yusaku should be the first. But I won out, in the end. As I knew I would.”

Takeru resists the urge to sigh. If this is Flame’s way of being bashful, or finally showing some actual restraint, then he thinks he’s had enough, thanks. He’d rather Flame just be his normal self, saying whatever he thinks straight to his face. “So?”

“I’m unsure you properly understand what an honor this is.”

If Flame doesn’t just _get to the point,_ then Takeru is going to implode. He hasn’t let his duel disk sit empty for the better part of a month just to let Flame talk himself around in circles when they finally do meet again. He’s directed too many stray comments to someone that wasn’t there for that. “I can’t know unless you tell me.”

“Ah,” Flame replies, not quite meeting Takeru’s eyes, “that’s true. Very observant of you, Takeru.”

And Takeru squints at that, because he’s not sure if Flame is trying to banter with him or if he really _is_ just nervous enough to start babbling. He ignores it, and decides to press. _“And?”_

_“And,”_ Flame says, “On behalf of the all the Ignises and in recognition of your valiant efforts to uncover the truth of the destruction of the former Cyberse, I’d like to invite you to be the first to set foot in our rebuilt home.”

_Seriously?_ Takeru thinks, _that’s all he had to say?_

But it’s not like he doesn’t understand. No human avatar has ever set foot there, and Takeru can’t deny that the thought of being the first sets a blazing sort of excitement across his chest. From the way Flame’s eyes sparkle up at him hopeful, he must have realized how much this would mean to Takeru, too. Helping him was the other half of why Takeru decided to fight, after all.

“Flame,” Takeru says, “I would be honored.”

For a second Flame seems quite relieved, letting out a breath he never actually took, and then he crosses his arms and nods. “Well. Yes. As you should be.”

Takeru just rolls his eyes and lets Flame go about with his insinuations. He knows well enough by now that Flame only ever half means them. “So?” he asks, “When are we going?”

Flame perks up immediately. His eyes practically sparkle when he replies, “As soon as possible.”

Takeru huffs fondly and resists the urge to pat Flame on the head. He says with a grin- “Well, come on! Let’s go. I don’t want to keep you waiting.”

He picks up his duel disk and lets Flame sweep him away, far through the network and into the rebuilt Cyberse. Not the parts that have been integrated with LINK VRAINS and the rest of the chosen worlds, but the beating heart of it, where the Ignises have again made their home. It’s a paradise, for the Ignises and the Ignises alone-

But there are marks of what’s clearly humanity here, too, scattered across the landscape dappled and familiar and in one particular case, _way too big._

“You built a ferris wheel,” Takeru says, craning his head to look up at its peak. Thinking about it now makes him want to laugh. They’d been new partners, back then- they’d hardly tested the strength of that new bond, and Takeru contemplated just leaving Flame behind more days than not.

But even back then, he’d never really meant it. Not when Flame had opened his eyes to his own strength, had given him the word he’d needed to stand against the dark. _Reincarnation._ Takeru, the Cyberse, reborn.

“I did,” Flame says, pride unmistakable in his voice, “though it’s much more impressive than its source.”

“Uh-huh,” says Takeru, utterly unable to deny it. He’s not sure a ferris wheel this grand could exist in any reality outside of the virtual. He knows, vaguely, that there are massive ones in America, in London, in Singapore- but somehow he doubts any of them could compare.

“Please show a little more excitement.”

And finally does Takeru’s smile burst from him again. He grins down at Flame with as much invitation as he can muster and asks, “So? Does this thing work or not?”

“Of course it does,” Flame replies in the tone of voice he uses when what he wants to say is _as you can clearly see, Takeru-_ but thinks himself just a little too polite to actually say that. Takeru laughs as he runs towards it, leaping over the velvet queue and racing up the stairs, metal sheets clanking under his feet the way they did all the way back then. Of all the details to add, Takeru hadn’t expected _that_ to be one of them. They climb together into the first of the cars, catching it as it goes without bothering to wait for it to stop, though Takeru is sure that Flame could do it with a thought.

Takeru takes the inside seat, and Flame floats out of his duel disk to sit on the side rail, calling back to the first time they’d ever rode together- though this time they’re all alone, and the world is at peace. Despite everything, Takeru feels the tiniest flash of nostalgia.

He doesn’t miss the pain or the cruel revelations or any of the things they went through on their quest to find the truth, but he kind of misses the fighting itself- having Flame at his side, burning through the air like a firestorm with the certainty that things would end okay. That even if they were hurt, separated, lost, they’d find their way back to each other and rise again from the ashes. Takeru glances over at Flame and wonders if he misses it, too. He’s finally just gotten his home back. Takeru isn’t going to ask him to go back to life without it.

But still.

“So,” Takeru says, staring out the window as they near the top, gaze sweeping across the landscape as varied as the Ignises that created it, “is this… an open invitation?”

Flame hums at him, a request for clarification. Takeru, after a moment, continues- “I mean… You’re going to live here, right?”

Flame nods. “We didn’t create our paradise again for nothing, Takeru. Even someone as hopeless at network matters as you should know that.”

Takeru makes a face. Flame doesn’t acknowledge the face. So Takeru shrugs instead, because Flame can’t ignore that- except, apparently, he can, staring out at the distant scenery as if he’s as enthralled by it as his first glimpses of the human world, which Takeru knows is a complete and utter lie.

“Flame,” he says, trying to ignore that bud of nervousness that’s suddenly demanding the twitch of his leg, the restless turn of his gloved hands, “is this an open invitation?”

“Why do you keep asking?” Flame’s tone isn’t harsh, which means this probably isn’t a goodbye, not the parting gift Takeru is suddenly starting to fear it is. But it’s still not as straightforward as _of course it is, Takeru. Why would you have ever thought otherwise?_

Takeru shrugs, and glances out the window to the sprawling Cyberse below. “I got used to having you around, is all.”

“Certainly an improvement over trying to smash your own duel disk,” Flame says, and Takeru drops his head into his hands.

“I thought you were an evil spirit! You’d been haunting me like one! That’s not my fault!”

Flame huffs. “There is a ninety-nine point-”

“See!” Takeru says, lifting his head and jabbing a finger at Flame, “See? Just the fact you can’t say _one-hundred percent_ is proof that something evil must exist out there somewhere! It’s proof!”

Flame shakes his head and shoots Takeru the pointed look he reserves for when he won’t say he’s exasperated with Takeru but certainly _wants_ to. “Takeru. Is something wrong?”

He shrugs in response. He’d hoped that Flame had forgotten the original question with their digression. “Not really.”

A pause, then, words cleaving straight through him like a sword- “Why won’t you tell me the truth?”

Takeru makes an involuntary little choking noise. Flame knows when he’s acting, putting on masks- different than trying to change himself. That’s how they played Blood Shepherd, after all. They can see straight through each other’s paper-thin lies because they _know_ each other. Because they care.

“If you’re worried about something,” Flame continues in his silence, floating over to lay his hands on Takeru’s fingers, “please tell me, Takeru. I’m here for you.”

And now he’s gone and made Flame worry. The guilt stabs into him about as subtle as getting run over by a bus. Out with it then, he decides, and hopes he doesn’t make a fool of himself as he scrambles for the right things to say.

“I dunno,” Takeru replies, meeting Flame’s gaze and attempting to see if he can put it all into words. It hasn’t been long- ten years of weakness, strung up and clutched tight and turned to strength over the span of a year and a handful of days-weeks-months. But it seems to Takeru like an eternity in that ferris wheel gondola. “It’s just… over now, you know? And it’s kinda weird. I mean, I’m happy, don't get me wrong. We can all move on now, and really start _living._ I mean, I think I’ve gone to more school in the past month than I did all last year, if you can believe that.”

Takeru pauses with a nervous sort of laugh, and Flame nods sagely. He hums, a neutral indication that he’s listening carefully- as he always does. Takeru doesn’t think he’s ever told Flame just how reassuring that is.

“And you’ve got your home back, which is… I know it’s weird to say it means a lot to _me,_ but it’s really good to see you back somewhere you belong, Flame. Safe with your friends and living a good life and-” _Ah,_ Takeru realizes, he’s rambling. Flame nods at him, a clear request to go on, but Takeru’s lost all the threads of coherent thought.

“And I just… want… to see you?” Takeru finishes, trying and utterly failing to make his voice come out as unaffected as he wants it to. It’s not like he’s making a love confession, here.

(Except, says a nagging little voice in the back of his head that sounds far too familiar for Takeru’s liking, the part where Flame might just mean more to him than anyone. The things they’ve accomplished, the darkness they’ve overcome- he can’t imagine doing it with anyone other than Flame at his side, much less alone.

Except the thought of growing distant from Flame, apart in their separate worlds- the thought of losing him, even now that there’s no one left out to hurt him- tears a hole in him somewhere terrifyingly close to his heart. He knows what love feels like, even if never before in the romantic sense, and, well-)

For what feels like a very long while, Flame says nothing. The phantom of Takeru’s heart feels like it’s about to beat out of his chest, and he hopes that his body’s still alive passed out in his bed. If not, thinks Takeru, a little hysterical and more than a little darkly, Flame and the Ignises would have no choice but to let him stay. It’s only a passing thought, though, irrational and swept away by his roiling anticipation for Flame’s answer.

“Of course it’s an open invitation. I would never abandon such a resplendent partner,” Flame says brightly, patting him hard on the hand. All the tension drops out of Takeru at once, his phantom heart skipping a beat with the rush of relief.

“Say that from the beginning!” Takeru chides, but his gaze as he stares down at Flame doesn’t hold any weight. It’s hard to act mad, after all, when all he feels is an overwhelming sort of happiness. Light and floating, mood rising up gentle like the ferris wheel itself.

“I was waiting,” Flame replies, “for us to reach the top.”

Takeru glances out the window, and sure enough- there’s no more bars above them, just the bright expanse of the sky and a few wispy clouds tugged along by an invisible wind. It’s a beautiful sight, the world spread out below them. Proof of the future they seized with their own two hands. Takeru shakes his head and looks back down at Flame, patting his head with a gentle finger. “You’re ridiculous, you know that?”

“Thank you.”

“No, that’s not-”

And, like he’s just drawn a trump card, Flame lifts his head and says- “I learned it from you.”

Takeru just groans. “No, I’m pretty sure you were like this from the beginning.”

“You aren’t protesting.”

A month, a year, a lifetime ago, Takeru might have. But now, after all this, he holds a finger out for Flame to take and says, “Nah. Wouldn’t have you any other way.”


End file.
